Denise Laursen

In August of 1985, Denise Laursen became a member of Park County School District 1 as the middle school family and consumer science teacher. Now in 2023, she’s retiring from Powell High School where she taught foods and culinary arts classes.

She leaves a legacy of providing a safe place for children in need of a place to belong. 

“Many students find their home in Denise’s classes — often these are students who have struggled in other areas,” Tim Wormald, Powell High principal, said when speaking in May about 2023 retirees. “There’s something about Denise and the relationships she built with the students that allows them to find success when they have not always been successful in other places.”

For some of these students cooking was not their talent, Laursen said, but she always welcomed them to stay and have a safe place free of judgment.

Providing a space for these students “means an awful lot,” Laursen said. She’s raised two children of her own but refers to her students fondly as her “school kids.”

If they aren’t interested in the class she would tell students, “That’s great so what are you interested in?” Or, “That’s great, so what are you passionate about?”

She said there is always a new, exciting or fun thing to learn about and if they fail that’s also where they learn.

“Failure is where you learn, take the risks, take the chance, find out who you are,” Laursen said.

Not everybody goes to college

In her time at the high school Laursen was known as an advocate for career technical education because not all kids will pursue post-secondary education, she said.

She was a SkillsUSA adviser and remains the Perkins Grant Coordinator (a grant that provides funding for CTE.)

She said that the grant is important to provide the best possible education to students because it helps them figure out through experience what they might be interested in pursuing post graduation.

“I took it on [the grant] and I have not regretted taking it on,” Laursen said.

She added that Powell’s CTE classes and teachers would not be up to date without the Perkins Grant, as it is critical in helping students meet industry demands in the community in fields such as health care.

After teaching for so long, Laursen now sees former students working in the community and giving back. Some students she’s had in recent years are also the children of students she taught long ago at the middle school.

“It’s fun to be able to go in and just see those students in the middle school become a productive part of the community,” she said. 

But, Laursen wasn’t just teaching these students. She said they also taught her. 

“Sometimes [you need to] just step back and have understanding that we all come from different places,” Laursen said. “We all have different events in our life that shape us and change us.”

She’ll still be around

After 37 years, Laursen said she knows it’s time to retire but when students ask what she’ll do she just says, “you’ll see me around, I’m not going any place.” 

Powell is Laursen’s hometown. She graduated from Powell and attended Northwest College.

Her entire teaching career has been in Powell and she never wanted to go anywhere else she said because of the staff and community.

She remembers fondly being sent to culinary school in Denver when she was hired at the high school because she had a lot to learn but the school district was “very graceful.”

“I’ll miss the students and staff a lot but it’s time for me to stop and take care of me, because my body hurts at the end of days,” Laursen joked.